Peacock jerked and stared at Alainn. The rush of adrenaline faded as Peacock’s mind caught up with the surprise of her voice echoing in his mind. Of course there’d be private chat. All MMOs had it, so why not Rebirth worlds?

Alainn scowled at him and turned away. Pretend you can’t hear me.

Right. Peacock settled back down and found a rock in the distance, relaxing his face into a look of boredom. He didn’t know how private chat worked in this world, but if it was anything like the rest of the mechanics, it just needed focus. Peacock urged a thought toward Alainn. How come you haven’t been using private chat the whole time?

Promise not to freak out?

Huh? Peacock tried to come up with a reason he’d freak out about her answer and came up with nothing. I guess I’ll try. Is the reason that bad?

Depends on who you ask. Alainn paused before continuing. Rebirth worlds don’t have private chat.

Peacock frowned. What was she talking about? What they were doing certainly checked all the boxes.

Yeah, but what I’m saying is it’s not a native function. I created it.

Peacock swung toward her, the revelation causing him to forget about being covert. You can do that? Can you change these cages, or teleport us out of here?

No, I can’t. Her mental voice carried with it heavy disappointment. I’m new to this place, just like you. Before I ended up here, I worked as a freelance programmer. Modding, hacking, quality assurance, whatever. I learned every computer language used, except the one used by Immortech for their Rebirth systems. I’d just received a few files on it before I… woke up here, but it wasn’t much.

You still changed the code, though. If you know enough to create a new function, shouldn’t everything else come pretty easy?

Alainn snorted. Not how it works, Peacock, even with the normal languages. Doesn’t help that the language used here is anything but normal.

How so?

Well, without boring you with the details, let’s just say if you look at regular computer languages you see machine logic, math, a human’s hand at the start molding things in ways human minds can grasp. Every modern language is built on those before, tying them all together, and making each new one familiar. This one, though… it’s not like any of them. It’s fluid, complex beyond imagining. There’s logic, but it shifts. It feels… alive. Now I understand why Immortech is so secretive about it.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Immortech keeps their programming language a secret? Peacock guessed it made sense. As far as he could remember, Immortech technology was, and always had been, kept within the company despite being over a hundred years old. Pretty impressive by itself considering every other tech company’s data went open source within a decade through choice, or hackers.

While he mused, Alain had gone silent. She’d turned her back on him, and if he didn’t know better, he’d have assumed she was asleep. She wasn’t, was she?

No, I’m not. Your mind got a little busy, so I thought it would be polite to wait.

His mind got a little busy? Peacock frowned. Could she read all of his mind?

Only when I focus on you. Sorry. Private chat doesn’t exist, and the framework doesn’t either. I basically had to turn on telepathy for this to work. But I promise I’m doing this to help. If I can read minds, maybe I can figure out how Zenith Flight is cheating. I could lock them out of the system, or at least find a way to put them in their place. What they’re doing to everyone is sick.

The way she said ‘everyone’ sounded like she meant more than just the two of them and Viseral.

You’re right. You and Viseral were the first prisoners, I think, but Zenith Flight has captured plenty more since. I’ve been training with about a dozen other young dragons in that stupid bunny room, and there were other adult dragons yelling at them as well. Whatever they’re doing, it’s big. All I need is a way to let the admins tear them apart.

But you haven’t figured out how, yet.

No. The programming language is insane. Still, I’m not giving up. If I push Nex, he might activate a cheat on me. If he does that, I might be able to copy it.

That’s a lot of ‘mights’.

It’s the best I’ve got. From what I’ve seen, it’s the best any of us have got.

Peacock couldn’t argue with her reasoning. There was still one nagging question. Why tell me all of this?

Because you stood up. No one else has, not that I blame them. It’s just… nice to find someone not ready to roll over, I guess. Anyway, I’m going to sleep now. I suggest you do the same. It’s harder to resist when you’re exhausted.

Alainn went quiet, leaving Peacock alone with his thoughts.

Resisting. He hadn’t thought about it that way. The things Nex demanded of them and did to them simply felt wrong. He hadn’t been trying to stand up, he just didn’t want Alainn to get hurt. If an escape route popped up, he’d be out in a second. Peacock listened to Alainn’s steady breathing. Well, perhaps long enough to get her out as well. Then he’d be gone.

He sighed. Maybe if he’d been a programmer, he could have found a way out by now. Of course, for all he knew, he might have been. Not like the damned AI would let him remember either way.

All he could do was wait and hope Alainn’s plan worked out. Too bad relying on others hadn’t worked out well for him so far, or for anyone else.

Peacock gave up on his spiraling train of thought and willed himself to sleep.

It didn’t last long.